editorNPR Digital Services RSS Generator 0.94Nell Greenfieldboyce is a NPR science correspondent. With reporting focused on general science, NASA, and the intersection between technology and society, Greenfieldboyce has been on the science desk's technology beat since she joined NPR in 2005. In that time Greenfieldboyce has reported on topics including the narwhals in Greenland, the ending of the space shuttle program, and the reasons why independent truckers don't want electronic tracking in their cabs. Much of Greenfieldboyce's reporting reflects an interest in discovering how applied science and technology connects with people and culture. She has worked on stories spanning issues such as pet cloning, gene therapy, ballistics, and federal regulation of new technology. Prior to NPR, Greenfieldboyce spent a decade working in print, mostly magazines including U.S. News & World Report and New Scientist . A graduate of Johns Hopkins, earning her Bachelor's of Arts degree in social sciences and a Master's of Arts degree in scienceNPR Digital Services RSS Generator 0.94Nell GreenfieldboyceSat, 10 Dec 2016 02:46:06 +0000Nell Greenfieldboycehttp://kbia.org
Nell GreenfieldboyceIf you could change the way a monkey or an ape's brain is wired, that animal would be capable of producing perfectly intelligible speech. That's the conclusion of a study that closely tracked the movements of a monkey's mouth and throat with X-rays, to understand the full potential of its vocal tract . Researchers then used that information to create a computer model of what it would sound like if the monkey were able to say phrases such as "happy holidays." The finding calls into question long-held assumptions about how humans developed their unique ability to use spoken language. "What you'll find in the textbooks is that monkeys can't talk because they don't have the appropriate vocal tract to do so," says Tecumseh Fitch , a cognitive biologist at the University of Vienna. "That, I think, is a myth. My colleagues and I all get very tired of seeing this. But you see it in all the textbooks. Lots of popular books, and also scholarly books about the evolution of language, assume thatSay, What? Monkey Mouths And Throats Are Equipped For Speechhttp://kbia.org/post/say-what-monkey-mouths-and-throats-are-equipped-speech
100862 as http://kbia.orgFri, 09 Dec 2016 19:58:00 +0000Say, What? Monkey Mouths And Throats Are Equipped For SpeechNell GreenfieldboyceThe surprise find of smallpox DNA in a child mummy from the 17th century could help scientists start to trace the mysterious history of this notorious virus. Smallpox currently only exists in secure freezers, after a global vaccination campaign eradicated the virus in the late 1970s. But much about this killer remains unknown, including its origins. Now scientists have the oldest complete set of smallpox genes, after they went hunting for viral DNA in a sample of skin from a mummified young child, probably a boy, that was found in a crypt underneath a Lithuanian church. "While ancient pathogen research is kind of a booming field right now, most of what's been done is actually bacterial. There's very little viral work," says Ana Duggan , a researcher at McMaster University in Canada, who explains that the original goal of this study was just to see what kind of viruses might be detectable in this centuries-old sample. The team was not expecting to find smallpox, but there it was — evenA Mummy's DNA May Help Solve The Mystery Of The Origins Of Smallpoxhttp://kbia.org/post/mummys-dna-may-help-solve-mystery-origins-smallpox
100816 as http://kbia.orgThu, 08 Dec 2016 17:24:00 +0000A Mummy's DNA May Help Solve The Mystery Of The Origins Of SmallpoxNell GreenfieldboycePresident-elect Donald Trump intends to nominate Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency, announcing his decision in a statement Thursday. As attorney general, Pruitt has made no secret of his disdain for the EPA. His official biography calls him "a leading advocate against the EPA's activist agenda." He has repeatedly challenged the agency's rules in court, and he has even sued the EPA for an allegedly cozy "sue and settle" relationship with environmentalists. One profile noted that Pruitt would sue the federal government "every chance he can get." Pruitt, who met with Trump Thursday morning at Trump Tower in New York, has been an ardent defender of fossil fuels and the coal industry. The New York Times has reported that one letter to the EPA from Pruitt was ghostwritten by lawyers for Devon Energy, an Oklahoma oil and gas company. He spent eight years in Oklahoma's Senate before being elected state attorney general in 2010. In that role, heTrump Picks Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt To Lead EPAhttp://kbia.org/post/trump-reportedly-picks-oklahoma-attorney-general-scott-pruitt-lead-epa
100779 as http://kbia.orgWed, 07 Dec 2016 20:58:00 +0000Trump Picks Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt To Lead EPANell GreenfieldboyceAround the corner from the famous Diamond District in New York City, David Weinstein sorts through some envelopes on his cluttered desk. All of them are full of diamonds. "I deal with diamonds all day long, for three decades," says Weinstein, executive director of the International Gemological Institute , a commercial testing laboratory. "To me, diamonds aren't anything spectacular. It's hard to get me to say, 'Wow!' " But lately he has been impressed by certain diamonds — those created in the lab. "These are all laboratory-grown," he says, unwrapping diamonds and lining them up inside a folded piece of white paper. Under a bright light, he points out how colorless they are, and how, to the naked eye, they're indistinguishable from diamonds that took millions of years to form deep within the earth. Would-be diamond-makers have spent about half a century learning how to churn out big, sparkly diamonds like these. And it wasn't easy. Back in the old days, Weinstein would rarely see labLab-Grown Diamonds Come Into Their Ownhttp://kbia.org/post/lab-grown-diamonds-come-their-own
100543 as http://kbia.orgThu, 01 Dec 2016 16:15:00 +0000Lab-Grown Diamonds Come Into Their OwnNell GreenfieldboyceCopyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: If you're looking for a way to stay young, you might want to try living out the rest of your life in the dark, frigid waters of the Arctic. You will also need to become a Greenland shark. Scientists have discovered this species can live for about 400 years and maybe even longer, as we hear in this encore report from NPR's Nell Greenfieldboyce. NELL GREENFIELDBOYCE, BYLINE: The first time Julius Nielsen ever saw Greenland shark, he was working on a research vessel that was studying other Arctic fish. JULIUS NIELSEN: One day we, by accident, caught a Greenland shark. It was a really a big one, and everyone went up and saw this interesting animal. GREENFIELDBOYCE: It looked different than a great white shark, but it had the shark fins and big teeth. Nielsen was intrigued. NIELSEN: You don't really expect sharks to be swimming around between icebergs and things like that. GREENFIELDBOYCE: He soon learned that scientists know almostEncore: Scientists Discover Centuries-Long Lifespan Of Greenland Sharkhttp://kbia.org/post/encore-scientists-discover-centuries-long-lifespan-greenland-shark
100422 as http://kbia.orgMon, 28 Nov 2016 23:28:00 +0000Encore: Scientists Discover Centuries-Long Lifespan Of Greenland SharkNell GreenfieldboyceThe good news for those worried that the U.S. will lose its leadership role in confronting climate change: President-elect Donald Trump said Tuesday , "I have an open mind to it. ... I do have an open mind." At a meeting Tuesday with New York Times journalists and executives, Trump said he thinks "there is some connectivity" in terms of human activity causing climate change. However, he went on to say that "it depends on how much" connectivity. "It also depends on how much it's going to cost our companies. You have to understand, our companies are noncompetitive right now." Then he noted that he also finds the climate issue interesting because "there are few things where there's more division than climate change." Climate researchers would not agree, at least when it comes to the science. Despite what contrarians maintain, the overwhelming scientific consensus is that human activity is warming the planet, with potentially devastating effects to the environment. And the United NationsTrump Says He Has 'Open Mind' On Climate, But Staff Pick Raises Questionshttp://kbia.org/post/trump-says-he-has-open-mind-climate-staff-pick-raises-questions
100229 as http://kbia.orgWed, 23 Nov 2016 19:56:00 +0000Trump Says He Has 'Open Mind' On Climate, But Staff Pick Raises QuestionsNell GreenfieldboyceA rusty-brown rock found on a beach by a fossil hunter might contain a bit of preserved dinosaur brain. If so, it would be the first time scientists have ever found fossilized brain tissue from a dinosaur. The fossil comes from a species closely related to Iguanodon , a large herbivore that lived about 130 million years ago. A collector named Jamie Hiscocks found it in 2004, near Bexhill in the United Kingdom. "He picked it up and noticed that it was slightly unusual in its shape and its texture," says Alex Liu of the University of Cambridge. "There's a series of bumps to this specimen that are quite characteristic of it fitting into the brain case of a dinosaur." This kind of fossil gets made when sediment fills up a dinosaur's skull cavity and hardens. Later, if the skull breaks off and disappears, what's left behind is a solid object that reveals the shape of the skull's inner cavity. What's different about this particular example, Liu says, is that the outer millimeter or so ofResearchers Say They've Found A Bit Of Fossilized Dinosaur Brainhttp://kbia.org/post/researchers-say-theyve-found-bit-fossilized-dinosaur-brain
98820 as http://kbia.orgThu, 27 Oct 2016 17:19:00 +0000Researchers Say They've Found A Bit Of Fossilized Dinosaur BrainNell Greenfieldboycehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3N0FY-fe_hA When scientists recently announced that they had discovered a new planet orbiting our closest stellar neighbor, Proxima Centuri, they also released an artist's conception of the planet. The picture of a craggy canyon, illuminated by a reddish-orange sunset, looked like an image that could have been taken on Mars by one of NASA's rovers. But the alien scene was actually completely made-up. It's part of an ever-increasing gallery of images depicting real planets beyond our solar system that, in fact, no one has ever seen. Astronomers detect these planets by looking for how a planet's gravity tugs on its star, or how a planet blocks a star's light. Over the last two decades, they've used these techniques to detect thousands of planets. Creating popular images to show what the planets might look like has become something of a cottage industry. The artists say this work can drive home the idea that these planets truly exist — but, still, someOut Of This World: How Artists Imagine Planets Yet Unseenhttp://kbia.org/post/out-world-how-artists-imagine-planets-yet-unseen
98622 as http://kbia.orgMon, 24 Oct 2016 08:38:00 +0000Out Of This World: How Artists Imagine Planets Yet UnseenNell GreenfieldboyceOn Election Day this November, about 1 in 4 Americans will vote using a device that never lets the voter see a copy of his or her vote on paper. The idea of relying on such machines has troubled some security experts for years. And this year the stakes may be even higher, because one candidate is charging that the election is rigged , and government officials have warned that state election systems have been targeted by foreign hackers with ties to Russia. Five states exclusively use voting machines that lack the kind of independent paper trail needed to do a convincing recount, according to a nonprofit, nonpartisan group called Verified Voting . Those states are New Jersey, Delaware, Georgia, Louisiana and South Carolina. "And then there are another nine states that have paperless voting machines in some jurisdictions," says Pamela Smith , president of Verified Voting. In Pennsylvania, considered a battleground state, those machines are used in a majority of counties. "On a scale ofWhy Worries About Paperless Voting Loom Larger This Yearhttp://kbia.org/post/why-worries-about-paperless-voting-loom-larger-year
98336 as http://kbia.orgTue, 18 Oct 2016 18:40:00 +0000Why Worries About Paperless Voting Loom Larger This YearNell GreenfieldboyceOn Friday, the Rosetta spacecraft will smack into the icy surface of the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and go silent. Scientists with the historic mission are wondering how they'll feel as the orbiter makes its death-dive toward the comet that has been its traveling companion for more than two years. "There's mixed emotions here," says Matt Taylor of the European Space Agency, who is the project scientist for Rosetta. "You know, people have invested their lives and their mentality, I think, as well — their psychology — on this mission. I really couldn't tell you what I'm going to feel." Mission controllers in Darmstadt, Germany, will command the spacecraft to do a specific maneuver on Thursday evening that will put it on a collision course with the comet. "From that point," Taylor says, "it's free fall, effectively." The whole way down, the spacecraft will be collecting data and images that it will stream back to Earth in real time. "And as soon as any one part of that spacecraftScientists To Bid A Bittersweet Farewell To Rosetta, The Comet Chaserhttp://kbia.org/post/scientists-bid-bittersweet-farewell-rosetta-comet-chaser
97406 as http://kbia.orgThu, 29 Sep 2016 13:15:00 +0000Scientists To Bid A Bittersweet Farewell To Rosetta, The Comet ChaserNell GreenfieldboyceScientists have seen what might be plumes of water vapor erupting out of the icy surface of Jupiter's moon Europa, suggesting that its subsurface ocean could be probed without having to drill through miles of ice. That's according to new findings from images captured by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope that were released Monday and that will be published this week in The Astrophysical Journal . Europa is one of the most intriguing places in the solar system because it's thought to have a vast subterranean ocean with twice as much water as Earth's oceans. This saltwater ocean is a tempting target for astrobiologists who want to find places beyond Earth that could support life. The trouble with exploring this ocean is that the water is hidden beneath an icy crust that's miles thick. But if plumes are indeed erupting from Europa, a spacecraft could potentially fly through them and analyze their chemistry — much like NASA's Cassini probe did recently when it sped close to Enceladus , a moonNASA Spots What May Be Plumes Of Water On Jupiter's Moon Europahttp://kbia.org/post/nasa-spots-what-may-be-plumes-water-jupiters-moon-europa
97241 as http://kbia.orgMon, 26 Sep 2016 19:52:00 +0000NASA Spots What May Be Plumes Of Water On Jupiter's Moon EuropaNell GreenfieldboyceA mysterious glowing "blob" in outer space has puzzled astronomers for more than 15 years. Now, a team of researchers says it has uncovered the secret behind the blob's eerie light. The blob was first spotted back in the late 1990s by Chuck Steidel , an astronomer at Caltech, and some colleagues. They were observing a bunch of galaxies in the distant reaches of the universe, he recalls, "but we also saw these big blotchy things." At first, they thought they had somehow accidentally screwed up the images. But then they realized they had actually discovered strange, glowing clouds of hydrogen gas. They were huge — about 10 times the Milky Way in diameter — making them some of the largest known objects in the universe. Steidel's team named these mysterious objects Lyman-alpha blobs. The "Lyman-alpha" part of the name just refers to the wavelength of light they emit. And the "blob" part was supposed to be tongue-in-cheek, says Steidel, "like the blob from outer space or something like thatAstronomers Find Clues In The Case Of The Glowing Space 'Blobs'http://kbia.org/post/astronomers-find-clues-case-glowing-space-blobs
97037 as http://kbia.orgWed, 21 Sep 2016 10:01:00 +0000Astronomers Find Clues In The Case Of The Glowing Space 'Blobs'Nell GreenfieldboyceNASA sent a robotic spacecraft from Florida out to an asteroid Thursday, but that's not the only asteroid mission the space agency has in the works. Officials also want to study a different asteroid with the help of astronauts. And it looks like the next president, plus Congress, will have to decide whether this human mission to a flying rock should ever get off the ground. The idea of visiting an asteroid goes back to 2010, when President Obama went to Kennedy Space Center in Florida to lay out his new plan for space exploration. He said he wanted astronauts to eventually land on Mars, and that the first steps would be to send astronauts out beyond the moon. "We'll start by sending astronauts to an asteroid, for the first time in history," he told the NASA workers. "By the mid-2030s, I believe we can send humans to orbit Mars and return them safely to Earth. And a landing on Mars will follow." The trouble is, flying people to an asteroid turned out to be really hard. The trip wouldNASA's Other Asteroid Mission: Grab A Chunk And Put It In Orbit Around The Moonhttp://kbia.org/post/nasas-other-asteroid-mission-grab-chunk-and-put-it-orbit-around-moon
96498 as http://kbia.orgFri, 09 Sep 2016 14:36:00 +0000NASA's Other Asteroid Mission: Grab A Chunk And Put It In Orbit Around The MoonNell GreenfieldboyceMost populations of humpback whales no longer need endangered species protections, according to a decision by the National Marine Fisheries Service. The U.S. government listed all humpback whales as endangered back in 1970, after commercial whaling had drastically reduced their numbers. But now, officials say they have divided humpback whales into 14 distinct populations. And after a scientific review, they say that nine of those populations have recovered enough that they no longer need to be considered endangered. "We believe that we have conducted a very thorough scientific assessment," says Angela Somma , chief of the endangered species division at the agency, also known as NOAA Fisheries. "Most of the humpback populations have increased and increased substantially from where they were." Whales that are still considered endangered include populations in Central America, off northwest Africa, in the Arabian Sea and in the western north Pacific. And a population near Mexico is listedMost Humpback Whales Taken Off Endangered Species Listhttp://kbia.org/post/most-humpback-whales-taken-endangered-species-list
96398 as http://kbia.orgWed, 07 Sep 2016 16:59:00 +0000Most Humpback Whales Taken Off Endangered Species ListNell GreenfieldboyceLizards are expected to be hard hit by climate change — and a new study suggests it might be even worse for some lizards than scientists thought. Lizards are sensitive to global warming because they regulate their body temperature using the environment. They bask in the sun, and cool off in the shade. It's been predicted that about 40 percent of the world's lizard populations will die off by the year 2080, which means roughly 20 percent of lizard species will go extinct. That prediction was based on certain assumptions about how easy it is for lizards to find shade, says Michael Sears , a biologist at Clemson University who was the study's lead author. "The thing that those models assumed is that the lizard can find a piece of shade anywhere in the environment instantly if it needed it," says Sears. But in reality, of course, it takes lizards energy and time to find shade, which means those past predictions of extinction risk could be off-base. He and his colleagues recently did aFor Lizards, Climate Change Is A Deadly — And Complex — Threathttp://kbia.org/post/lizards-climate-change-deadly-and-complex-threat
96303 as http://kbia.orgMon, 05 Sep 2016 19:01:00 +0000For Lizards, Climate Change Is A Deadly — And Complex — ThreatNell GreenfieldboyceWhen you praise a dog, it's listening not just to the words you say but also how you say them. That might not be huge news to dog owners. But now scientists have explored this phenomenon by using an imaging machine to peek inside the brains of 13 dogs as they listened to their trainer's voice. The reward pathway in the dogs' brains lit up when they heard both praising words and an approving intonation — but not when they heard random words spoken in a praising tone or praise words spoken in a flat tone, according to a report in the journal Science . "Dogs process both what we say and how we say it in a way which is amazingly similar to how human brains do," says Attila Andics , a neuroscientist at Eotvos Lorand University in Hungary. When dogs hear speech, he explains, they seem to separate the meaning of words from the intonation, and each aspect of speech is analyzed independently. The left hemisphere of the brain processes meaning, while intonation is analyzed in the rightTheir Masters' Voices: Dogs Understand Tone And Meaning Of Wordshttp://kbia.org/post/their-masters-voices-dogs-understand-tone-and-meaning-words
96024 as http://kbia.orgTue, 30 Aug 2016 16:17:00 +0000Their Masters' Voices: Dogs Understand Tone And Meaning Of WordsNell GreenfieldboyceA potentially habitable planet about the size of Earth is orbiting the star that is nearest our solar system, according to scientists who describe the find Wednesday in the journal Nature . The newly discovered planet orbits Proxima Centauri , a red dwarf star that's just 4.25 light-years from Earth — about 25 trillion miles away. The star is too faint to be seen with the naked eye and is close to a much brighter and more famous pair of stars called Alpha Centauri A and B. Researchers detected the planet by observing how its star wobbled as the planet traveled around it. All that's known about the planet is that it's a bit more massive than Earth and circles its star once every 11 days. Because the star is so dim, temperatures on the planet would be mild enough that any water — if it's there — would be liquid. "We're talking about a planet that has very similar properties to Earth," says Guillem Anglada-Escude of Queen Mary University of London, who led the research team of more thanThis Planet Just Outside Our Solar System Is 'Potentially Habitable'http://kbia.org/post/planet-just-outside-our-solar-system-potentially-habitable
95752 as http://kbia.orgWed, 24 Aug 2016 17:36:00 +0000This Planet Just Outside Our Solar System Is 'Potentially Habitable'Nell Greenfieldboycehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5A6ehNcrmw "The wave" has been a popular diversion among spectators at stadium sporting events since at least the early 1980s, and over the years this pastime has caught the attention of physicists. Illes Farkas , with the statistical and biological physics group of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Budapest, first began pondering the phenomenon in 2001. "It was summer," he recalls. "It was really hot," and some kind of sports competition was in town. He saw the audience do the wave and wondered: How do tens of thousands of people burst into this unplanned but highly coordinated movement? "It was basically out of curiosity," says Farkas, "an odd summer project. And then it turned in to something very serious." Physicists, after all, know that particles obeying a few simple rules can create a seemingly complex phenomenon — ice melting, for example. "And in a very similar way, surprisingly, humans do similar things," says Farkas. "The reason why we gotThe Physics And Psychology Of 'The Wave' At Sporting Eventshttp://kbia.org/post/physics-and-psychology-wave-sporting-events
95312 as http://kbia.orgMon, 15 Aug 2016 13:54:00 +0000The Physics And Psychology Of 'The Wave' At Sporting EventsNell GreenfieldboyceSharks can live to be at least 272 years old in the Arctic seas, and scientists say one recently caught shark may have lived as long as 512 years. That's according to a study published Thursday in the journal Science that says Greenland sharks can live longer than any other known animal advanced enough to have a backbone. Until now, the record-holder for the oldest vertebrate was the bowhead whale, known to have lived up to 211 years. The Greenland shark, a massive carnivore that can be more than 16 feet long, hasn't been studied much, and its life in the cold northern waters remains largely mysterious. Julius Nielsen , at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, says there had been some hints that Greenland sharks grow very slowly, perhaps less than a centimeter per year. That suggested the huge sharks might be ancient. "We only expected that the sharks might be very old," says Nielsen. "But we did not know in advance. And it was, of course, a very big surprise to learn that it wasTalk About An Ancient Mariner! Greenland Shark Is At Least 272 Years Oldhttp://kbia.org/post/talk-about-ancient-mariner-greenland-shark-least-272-years-old
95155 as http://kbia.orgThu, 11 Aug 2016 18:01:00 +0000Talk About An Ancient Mariner! Greenland Shark Is At Least 272 Years OldNell GreenfieldboyceTeens are driving unsupervised too late at night, a recent study suggests, and expanding restrictions on their nighttime driving to include the hours before midnight could save lives. Ruth Shults , an epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, says that getting a driver's license is an exciting rite of passage for teens. "But we also know that it can be a dangerous time for them," she says, because motor vehicle crashes kill more teens than anything else. Driving in the dark is more difficult than driving during daylight hours, so every state but Vermont puts limits on teens' nighttime driving. "They restrict the hours that a young person can drive at night when they're newly licensed if they don't have an adult in the car," explains Shults. Recently, she and a colleague decided to look at the timing of when teens generally drive, and how that lines up with the state restrictions. The scientists' results appear in the latest issue of the CDC'sMost Nighttime Crashes With Teen Drivers Happen Before Midnighthttp://kbia.org/post/most-nighttime-crashes-teen-drivers-happen-midnight
94734 as http://kbia.orgWed, 03 Aug 2016 20:28:00 +0000Most Nighttime Crashes With Teen Drivers Happen Before Midnight